John J. Duggan ACADEMY School Operational Plan 2015-2016 Principal: Michael Calvanese School Address: 1015 Wilbraham Rd. Springfield, MA 01109
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A. Focused School-Wide Priorities 1. All Duggan students will demonstrate measurable growth in their ability to show grade-level proficiency in disciplinary literacy and literacy skills specialized to history, science, mathematics, literature, and other subject matters, specifically in writing and in discourse through the creation of quality student work in all content areas. Progress will be measured by school-based measures; weekly math and ELA assessments, unit assessments, writing assessments, and state-mandated assessments. 2. During the 2015-16 school year, the John J. Duggan Academy will work to improve our school culture through the Habits of Scholarship (Respect, Responsibility, Quality, and Perseverance) in order to promote academic achievement, personal fulfillment, leadership, and active global citizenship. We will improve student achievement through increased student ownership of and independent responsibility toward academics, character, and engagement and increased faculty cohesiveness and consistency. B. Rationale for Selecting these Priorities 1. Our students open response data in English Language Arts (ELA) is 17%, 13%, and 22% below the state average for the three consecutive grade levels with average scores of 1.65, 1.78, and 1.69 on a 4 point scale (in grades 6-8), and in math it is 16%, 30%, and 24% below the state average for the three consecutive grade levels, with average scores of 1.67, 1.11 and 1.50 on a 4 point scale (in grades 6-8). A deeper examination into root causes during the National Center on Teaching and Learning (NCTL) process indicated that students struggle with justifying their answers in math and integration of knowledge and ideas in ELA. 2. The rationale for our second priority was determined by analysis of teacher/staff survey data that asked for teachers input during the redesign process. In the analysis of student performance data, the issue of school culture also was indicated as a secondary cause for low performance data. C. Key Strategies to Improve in These Areas 1. To support the Instructional Focus there will be a school-wide implementation of Cornell notes in all content area classes. Research suggests that Cornell notes support students when they are required to apply, synthesize, and evaluate text and information. Cornell notes also allow teachers to support students with misconceptions about the content they are learning because teachers can follow students thinking as they analyze text. As a further support for writing instruction, we will implement strategies used in the Self- Regulated Strategies Development. These strategies support students of all ability levels to improve the quality of writing, including planning and length of writing tasks. In the past, John J. Duggan Academy has been challenged with a high teacher turnover rate. We believe that the implementation of common instructional strategies will help to support the development of new and existing teachers as we prioritize what our students need most. Teachers will also receive targeted professional development to ensure all staff has the skills to get all students to proficiency. We will use our teacher collaboration time in the follow manner to achieve our goals: Yearly Department Head training during June professional development on instructional focus strategies ELA Instructional Specialist will facilitate full staff professional development during August teacher collaboration days
ELA & math Instructional Leadership Specialist will train staff on scoring student writing in response to text and math open response questions Off-Site professional development for additional support for selected teachers in areas of literacy as needed Summer professional development and feedback sessions on unit and lesson development that integrate instructional practices across the content areas. Monthly Full staff professional development on instructional focus and strategies that are being used -- teachers will be updated on trends identified from learning walks and will look at student work - Professional development is led by ELA instructional specialist, and Expeditionary Learning English Consultant Grade Level Team Meeting (GLT) will follow up on full staff professional development on instructional focus strategies to discuss what is working/not working during the implementation process. Weekly Teacher Department Meetings will be facilitated by Department Heads and ELA or Math Instructional leadership specialist. Meetings will highlight learning from full-staff professional development sessions, and teachers will analyze student work that is aligned to the instructional focus to monitor student progress. Instructional rounds will be held in order to identify school trends and fidelity of implementation. Rounds will include administration, coaches, and teachers (all teachers will have an opportunity to participate). The instructional rounds will inform the leadership team and school on the implementation of the instructional focus and will inform monthly professional development needs. Supervision and evaluation processes will also serve as an opportunity to monitor implementation of school strategies and focus. Springfield Educator Evaluation Development System (SEEDS) will ensure there is an accountability system in place for implementation of best practice. All teachers will have a professional practice SMART goal that aligns with the instructional focus. All teachers will receive feedback on their progress toward their goal throughout the year. 2. To support school culture, there will be a school-wide implementation of a Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) built on our Habits of Scholarship. A consistent behavior matrix will outline expected behaviors in all areas of school life, the daily advisory program (called crew ) will be designed with lessons to teach and reinforce expectations, and classroom teachers will teach content-specific application of the Habits of Scholarship. A web-based point system will be developed to reward students for consistently meeting expectations, and the district-based SWIS system will be used for tracking disciplinary referrals. Further, to develop school culture focused on the school s Social Justice magnet theme, crews will develop relationships with local social service organizations to develop meaningful service learning experiences and this work will be celebrated at grade-level and full-school Community Meetings. The community meetings will occur every 6 weeks following and enrichment cycle. Additional culture-building strategies include developing a robust enrichment program that is available to all students. Depending on students academic need and PBIS achievement, students may earn more enrichment opportunities. Enrichment offerings will be customized to individual student needs where they may receive counseling, explicit Habits of Scholarship training, serve on the Student Leadership Council to become ambassadors of the building, helping to design crew, or designing and leading Community Meetings. The John J. Duggan Academy community will celebrate academic success by hosting three celebrations of student learning during parent-teacher conferences. In order to increase family involvement and to promote a positive academic culture, students will also participate in two, student-led family conferences that will focus on high quality student work for each of
the students core classes. During these conferences, students will review their academic address and goals with their families. Students will complete and share a reflection journal entry that is linked to the student s habits of scholarship. Crew teachers will support students in preparing for student-led conferences through reviewing academic data and ensuring students have a portfolio of high quality work prepared to share with families. D. Goals and Benchmarks For both mathematics and English Language Arts: 2015-16 SGP does not significantly improve SGP improves halfway or more to 50 (e.g., goes from 30 to 40+) SGP improves halfway or more to 50 (e.g., goes from 40 to 45+) SGP is above 50 2016-17 SGP does not significantly improve SGP is above 50
IMPLEMENTING THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A HIGH QUALITY SCHOOL High Quality Instruction Curriculum will be supervised by the administration with support from the Department Heads, Instructional Coaches, Expeditionary Learning, and the Teacher Leadership Team. In addition to curriculum supervision, Department Heads will have the added responsibility of managing resources that are used at each grade level and the ordering of any additional resources needed. Administration Principal Michael Calvanese Assistant Principal Arria Coburn (6th and 7th grade) Assistant Principal April Huckaby (8th, 9th, and 10 th grades) Magnet Administrator Mary Kay Brown (6 th -10 th grade) Department Heads for the Following Areas: Science Social Studies/History Math English Language Arts Special Education Encore Instructional Coaches ELA Instructional Leadership Specialist - Dana Jackson Math Instructional Leadership Specialist- Amy Adamski Expeditionary Learning Coach and Instructional Coach- Stephen Stroud Social Justice and Instructional Coach- TBD Teacher Feedback In order to ensure consistent high quality instruction across all classrooms, a system of feedback and coaching will be created at Duggan Academy. The following strategies outline the feedback and coaching system: 1. Administration will receive lesson plans each Friday from all new teachers and feedback will be given prior to instruction. 2. New teachers will be assigned an administrator for weekly feedback. Math teachers will receive feedback on a rotating basis by the Math Instructional Leadership. The ELA teacher will receive feedback on a rotating basis by the ELA Instructional Leader. The science department will receive feedback on a rotating basis by the EL Instructional coach, and the social studies teachers will receive feedback by the Social Justice Instructional Coach and Expeditionary consultants. 3. Coaches and administration will be assigned up to 4 teachers to coach. The coach will also review the lesson plans of the coachee on a weekly basis. The coach will participate in weekly planning sessions to support the development of future lessons. 4. Weekly instructional rounds will occur to allow all teachers to learn from their colleagues. Peer observations (instructional rounds) will occur during biweekly and will include a 20 minute of observations followed by a 10-15 minute debrief during department and grade level meetings.
5. Teachers will be provided information on trends seen during instructional rounds across the school to monitor the implementation of the instructional focus strategies. 6. Model classrooms will be used and colleagues will be able to observe, give feedback, and reflect on what they observed. Teachers will be asked to commit to trying new strategies in their classroom. Differentiation of Instruction To ensure that instruction is meaningfully differentiated, staff will receive professional development in August to support the needs of special education students and English Language Learners. Strategies for best practices in differentiation can also be applied to core instruction for all students. Professional development will also include different resources that staff can use for their lesson design that will support students at multiple levels. Additionally, during the teacher time in August, staff will be given time to analyze student data (PARCC/MCAS Data and individual student reading levels) prior to the start of the year. These data will be updated as benchmark assessments are given throughout the year. During the school year, staff will develop reteach plans based on student performance and will collaboratively develop lessons that target specific students needs. Student progress will be monitored to ensure that interventions and reteaching efforts are impacting student learning. Frequent Data Cycles Students will take weekly online assessments (developed by Measure Progress, producer of MCAS exams). The assessments will be backward designed from the PARCC exam. The assessments will rotate each week with students beginning with an unseen English language comprehension exam, a math open response question, a response to text, and a multiple choice math assessments. The assessment will align to the standards being taught in the subject matter at that time. Teachers will receive instant data that will be provided by our data specialist and analyzed on a weekly basis. Open Response Questions in Math and Response to text will be graded by math and ELA teachers and reported out on a monthly basis. Larger benchmark exams will take place in ELA and Math three times per year and will align with our three professional development days in November, January, and February. To measure growth, we are currently looking into the use of MAP from NWEA to use for both ELA and math. Growth exams will be given three times per year and teachers will be provided time during full-day professional development sessions to analyze student data. Benchmarks will be given in November, January, and late February. Benchmark testing will also occur three times per year on specific standards. The Achievement Network will provide the benchmark assessments for math and ELA. Teachers will meet for 30 minutes per week to review data from weekly assessments (AMS). The AMS assessments will only focus on a few standards and will immediately inform classroom instruction and areas for re-teaching. The data will also inform the small group intervention/extension time during the additional math and ela resource periods. Math classes will have small group (3-to-1) tutoring that will align to the need based on the formative assessments (AMS). Teachers will also analyze student growth data (MAP) and benchmark data during professional development days. These data meetings will be a deeper dive and will occur for two hours and include all staff. Teachers will create reteach plans based on the data from the meetings. Targeted Intervention & Acceleration Student data will be reviewed weekly for all students based on AMS data. Math and ELA teachers have a smaller caseload of students (75 students). All students in math will receive 120 minutes per week of ST Math, a spatial temporal math program designed to build conceptual understanding and additional 90 minutes per week of small group tutoring (3-to-1). Small group tutoring will be determined by need base on the weekly AMS reports. All students will receive a blended reading comprehension program for 180 minutes per week. A reading specialist for targeted support will pull students that need additional support around specific reading comprehension strategies. The ELA teachers,
reading specialist, and ELA ILS will determine the groupings for targeted reading support and will be data focused. A special education teacher will be assigned by grade level and will also be available to push in for support during the ELA and math intervention/extension periods. A review of all IEPs will be done in the spring of the prior year to ensure that the student needs are met by proper groupings. The review process will involve the ETL, Principal and Assistant principals. The review for the 2015-2016 year will begin in March of 2015 and will continue on a bi-weekly basis with the principal, ETL, and district supervisor. For students who need specific supports, inclusion math and ELA will align to specific cohorts and a paraprofessional will push in for additional inclusion support. English Language Learners will receive services and the student schedules will align to the extension periods. Students who need additional ESOL support will receive this support during ELA extension/intervention blocks. Current staff musmust have Retell certificationretell certification by the end of the 2016 academic year. Ongoing literacy professional development will embrace the best practices of the SEI strategies. Level 1 and 2 students will receive at least 2.5 hours per day of direct ESOL services. Level 3, 4 and 5 students will be grouped by grade level (5-11) per grade. Level 3 support for ESOL services will occur for one hour per day and will align with the support periods so students do not miss core academics. Level 4 and 5 students will also receive push in and pull out support from a licensed ESOL teacher. Teacher Collaboration & Professional Development Time for teachers to collaborate: Math and ELA teachers have mandatory data meetings and planning period with the instructional leadership specialist each week All teachers will have 1.5 hours of grade level team meetings each week Science teachers have 60 minutes per week department meeting each week, supported by an instructional coach. Meetings will include data analysis and team planning, and feedback Social studies teachers have 60 minutes department meeting each week, supported by an instructional coach. Meetings will include data analysis and team planning, and feedback. All teachers will also have a planning period each day Grade level teams will meet weekly for all grades, vertical meetings will occur for science and social studies once per week, and math and ELA will have weekly grade level meetings with monthly vertical meetings Special education teachers will align to the grade level team times for 1.5 hours of team time per week and the special education teachers will also meet with math and ela teachers on a weekly basis for data, planning and feedback Using data: To build teacher expertise and to improve instruction, task analysis will be completed on standards and information will be used when analyzing student data to inform instruction Coaching and Partnerships: A chief support partner which is TBD will support the principal and leadership 1 to 2 days per week and as needed. The support will focus on implementation of the operational plan. Expeditionary Learning will have about 60 days of onsite support. Support will include coaching of the principal and the leadership team. Expeditionary Learning will also support the operational plan and the professional development given to teachers on unit and lesson design, implementation of ELA modules (Engage New York) and new 6th and 9th grade social studies and history modules. Professional development for Math, ELA, Science, and History will be conducted internally by Administration, instructional coaches, and EL consultants. Additional support will be brought in as needed.
Enhanced School Culture School culture starts with the administration setting a tone of positivity and growth and establishing a clear vision of what success looks like for a school, in academics, in personal interactions, and in routines. Administration works to leverage the strengths of faculty to create such an environment and to support all by holding students and faculty accountable for expected behavior. Teacher Expectations Vision: teachers set a tone of positivity and growth in the building through: Intentional relationship-building with students and other faculty, Bringing a sense of joy to their academic discipline and their crew, Embracing and promoting a growth mindset in all endeavors, with colleagues and students, Skillfully interacting with students, knowing that most students have grown up in generational poverty which results in predictable behavior, and cognitive and interpersonal patterns, and Skillfully planning lessons to meet the developmental needs of adolescents by intentionally including relationship-building, autonomy, competence, and fun. Consistent school-wide rules, routines, and procedures for teachers: Using positive narration in the classroom to reinforce expectations and to celebrate student successes Meeting the developmental needs of adolescents Use of agreed-upon instructional strategies Participation with PBIS rewards system Implementing crew consistently Growth during Professional Development cycles Meeting attendance Following agreed-upon Norms for Effective Collaboration Class Coverage -teachers and paras Faculty Dress Code Student Expectations Vision: Students help to establish and maintain a tone of positivity and growth in the building through: Developing a personal investment and ownership in their academic success, their character, and the quality of their work Contributing to a positive, supportive environment in their crews, classes, enrichments, and common areas (hallways, cafeteria, field trips, etc.) Participating in key school-wide structures to promote relationship-building and student ownership: crew, student-led family conferences, community meetings (assemblies), mini-courses, Habits of Scholarship lessons and reflections, and PBIS rewards system Embracing a growth mindset towards academics and behavior Accepting accountability measures by faculty and administration when expectations are not met PBIS assessment system that aligns with our Habits of Scholarship (SWISS) Specialized Programming for a Strong School Culture: Student Ambassador Program (Leadership for students) - 13 students per grade level will go through an application process and teacher recommendations to take part in this leadership program. The school counselor will serve as the point person for the program and will use the core practice of Expeditionary Learning, and the 7 habits of highly effective teens as anchor text. Students will also be assigned to lead one crew and will serve as a student government and communication system for the entire school. Students will also design and lead grade level community meetings. Crew Curriculum delivered for all students that aligns to our Habits of Scholarship. The curriculum is developed by our
crew committee and aligns to our habits of scholarships. Crew will meet daily for 39 minutes in a 14 to 1 student teacher ratio. Each crew will also have one student ambassador that will serve in a student government capacity to give the student body voice. Crews will be responsible for leading portions of community meetings (occur every 6 weeks), preparing for student led family conference, improving school family relationships by developing a positive communication system, and will embrace one community service project per year. School-wide expectations taught and re-taught according to an agreed-upon calendar (beginning of year, January, March). Professional development for staff will be provided in August to ensure that all are clear on the school expectations and procedures. Student assemblies will take place the first few weeks of school to set the expectation for the entire building. These assemblies will be run by administration. Follow-up community meetings (every 6 weeks) will consistently reinforce the school-wide expectations. Enrichment period. Students that are not meeting Habits of Scholarship expectations will meet for one hour each week for social skills development and goal setting. The counselor of the grade level will meet with the students to develop the skill needed to reset the students. Students will be taught the model behavior they have failed to demonstrate. Parent Conferences will align with report cards and will be conducted in the school open space. In the gymnasium students will conduct a celebration of learning that will display high quality student work by subject. Student Teacher Conferences will occur two times per year in which students will present to their families high quality pieces of work for each of their subject areas. Students will also reflect on their progress toward each of the four habits of scholarship, and also report out on their academic address and goals for each class and state assessments. Office Referral System - Teachers will have a school- wide behavior management system for their classroom that will be reinforced by the principal of the building. Also, students will have a PBIS system to recognize the model behavior. When these systems are not effective, teachers will have the opportunity to refer the student to a dean for administration counseling and or consequences. Students that have repeat referrals will have parent meetings, additional consequences, counselor support, and entry to intervention program during enrichment. Currently, PLCs and the PBIS Committee are working to determine classroom consistencies. Grade levels currently have common rules and procedures. The committee will develop one system for the entire school. Professional development will be given on these rules and procedures in August. To continuously monitor the progress, instructional rounds will be completed and feedback will be given to the grade level teams. If additional support and review is necessary it will occur during the weekly grade level team meetings. The committee will develop one system for the entire school. Professional development will be given on these rules and procedures in August. To continuously monitor the progress, instructional rounds will be completed and feedback will be given to the grade level teams. If additional support and review is necessary it will occur during the weekly grade level team meetings. Also, weekly meetings will occur with the deans and principals to ensure consequences are being handled in a consistent manner. Communicating Expectations to Students: When students return to school they will meet with the principal and administration during grade level assemblies. Income 6th and 9th grade students will also be invited to an early start program where they will also get an overview of the Duggan expectations. To continue teaching students Crew curriculum will be developed and executed on a daily basis. Academic classes will reinforce the expectations through character targets during daily lessons. Enrichment periods will focus on the students habits of scholarship and feedback will be given back to the student and that student s crew teacher. Assemblies will continue by grade level every 6 weeks to reinforce the behavior expectations. Students will also have administration in daily lunch meetings for updates and discussions on behavior concerns. Enrichment periods will develop student ambassadors (14 per grade) to serve as models for other students. Students that continually struggle to meet the behavior expectation will work with the counselor once per week. The curriculum to support these students will be second step. The Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) Team will create lessons to teach school-wide behavioral expectations and will create systems to celebrate the students that are
demonstrating the expected behaviors. These students will receive privileges that will include points for the school store, free entry to school events, incentives, gift cards, field trips, and other rewards. A referral system will be in place for students who are disrupting the school and not meeting the expected behavior. These students will be referred for additional consequences. Students that are disciplined will have a reflection piece align to the habits of scholarship. If students have repeated negative behaviors and above strategies are not working the student will be referred for a functional behavior assessment and a behavior intervention plan may be put in place. Engaging Enrichment All of our students will be offered a wide variety of enrichment opportunities for 130 minutes per week. The offerings will excite students about attending school and view school as an opportunity to expand their learning beyond the typical classroom setting. Students will be offered a catalog of the different enrichment offerings. The offerings will occur two hours per week by grade level and will last for five consecutive weeks. On the 6th week, the students and staff will attend a community meeting in which the school highlights the success of the enrichment program. Enrichments that are in high student demand will be offered multiple times during the year to ensure all students will get the opportunity to take part in all enrichments. All enrichment programs will reinforce the schools habits of scholarship. The habits focus on Respect, Responsibility, Perseverance, and Quality. Although enrichment opportunities are not academically graded all enrichment partners will report out to the school on the character development of the students within their enrichment. The reports will be returned to the student s crew teacher and will reflect in the student s crew grade. The enrichment program will also be the vehicle for two additional school initiatives. 1. Student Ambassador Program (Leadership for students) - 13 students per grade level will go through an application process and teacher recommendations to take part in this leadership program. The school counselor will serve as the point person for the program and will use the core practice of Expeditionary Learning, and the 7 habits of highly effective teens as anchor text. Students will also be assigned to lead one crew and will serve as a student government and communication system for the entire school. Students will also design and lead grade level community meetings. 2. Habits of Scholarship Intervention Program-A referral system will be used by teachers for students who are not demonstrating a positive trend toward the habits of scholarship. These students that are identified will work with the counselor for one of the two hours during the enrichment period to reflect on their challenges and develop and action plan for success. The counselor will use the second step curriculum to develop the skills that are needed. In situations, with repeat need students will be peered with a school or partner mentor. Through the development of a robust enrichment program students will be more excited about attending school and feel that school is a welcomed environment in which we support the development of the whole student. This will help improve an already strong attendance record at Duggan, but will also strengthen the student connection to the school. In addition, all enrichments will reinforce the schools habits of scholarship and will help to continue to develop positive student character. Through this program school culture will improve, and through the improvement of school culture our schools instruction priority will improve. Expanding parent and community engagement outside the classroom will also strengthen the relationship Parents will be offered the opportunity to suggest enrichment program, chaperone enrichment programs, and lead enrichment programs. Families will have another venue to come and support their student and school. The community partners will be also be given the opportunity to offer supports that are given in the Springfield community to the students in the Duggan setting. The partners will be trained using our PBIS system and Habits of Scholarship. Current Partnership Development Underway: Partner Western New England University Western New England University Enrichment Robotics Law School- Mock Trial
University of Massachusetts Junior Achievement Teatro Vida Y -AIM (Big Y and MCA Bay State Health Community Music School TBD and PE teacher TBD and PE teacher TBD and Art Teacher TBD and Music Teacher TBD and Music Teacher TBD TBD TBD School Counselor School Counselor Nursing club Stock market challenge Poetry and literacy Student Leadership Training Mini Medical School String Instruments Swimming Intramural sports Art focus enrichments Band Chorus Karate/Boxing Dance Community Service Projects Student Ambassador Program Habits of Scholarship Intervention Other school working conditions: The school plans to hold family conferences and family events in which teachers will participate. In all cases where such an event will happen outside normal school hours, staff members will be notified at least two weeks in advanceattached school calendar has many of the events During a typical Monday-Friday week, all staff members are expected to perform additional duties that are necessary to fulfill the mission of the school. These duties may include, but are not limited to: Coverage of homeroom periods Coverage of break periods or block periods Substitute coverage of classes and duties of others who are absent from school In addition to traditional responsibilities and those duties listed above, all staff at the school may be expected to be involved in reasonable educational and administrative activities that are necessary to fulfill the mission of the school. Staff may be asked to perform additional duties or responsibilities not listed here. Some additional responsibilities may come with additional compensation in the form of stipends, but stipends should not be expected. The school commits to ensuring a reasonable class size for students and teachers. Class sizes may be differentiated to support student learning and teacher development.
Overview of Redesigned Student Schedules Overview of Redesigned Teacher Schedules
Appendices: Collaboration meeting chart
Collaboration Meeting Activity When? (Frequency & Duration) Who? (Participants) How? (How is the time used? What DATA are we using during this time?) For Next Year What ideas do we have to improve our use of this time? Instructional Coaching Weekly 30-45 minutes coaching meetings. Teachers with either instructional coaches or administrators The time will be used to look at lesson planning in response to student data. Time will also be spent using data gathered from instructional rounds to determine teacher support around instructional focus instructional focus, PD cycle focus, implementation of the instructional strategies, use of protocols, use of checking for understanding strategies. Provide a mentoring program for new teachers. Year one teachers would receive the same coach for the entire year and would attend monthly meetings to support them as new teachers. Non-tenured teachers would receive the same coach for the entire year and can choose to opt into the mentoring program. During the PD cycles, the EL SD can support more veteran staff in implementing new learning. Peer Observation Biweekly instructional rounds 20 minutes of observation with 10-15 minutes for debrief during department and grade level meeting time. Teachers, administrators and instructional coaches Instructional rounds driven by professional development cycle and data from student performance on AMS. Data collection and observation of practice for the following: Instructional Focus PD cycle focus Implementation of the instructional strategies Use of protocols Use of checking for understanding strategies Train all staff on instructional rounds prior to the start of the year. Build capacity with gradual release.